Those wheels look great! Good mods as well, more reliable modern kit but not affecting the look or spirit of the car. Braver man than me with that carb. Whenever I stripped any carbs they never worked very well again!

If you try and take a cat apart the first thing you have is a non working cat.

To finish up the EFI install a Holley Dual Sync distributor was added. Its pretty much plug and play with the Holley Sniper.

The wiring had been prepared when installing the sniper EFI. Only had to remove coil input wire from the ignition coil. Then connect coil driver in its place.

In order to align the Dual Sync distributor the crank needed to be rotated to 50 degrees before top dead centre (on compression stroke). My harmonic balancer only had 3,6,9,12 degrees marked out. The balancer is 6. 375″ diameter so to find 50 degrees used a simple equation to mark up some tape with appropriate positions. Also added 6 & 12 degrees to verify the size. ( had marked up for 7″ & 8″ balancers as I didn’t know how big the balancer was )

Once the crank was positioned correctly set the distributor was dropped in. All went smoothly until I tried to connect up the spark plug wire.

A bit of a discovery for me, the spark plug wires from the original setup didn’t fit on the new distributor, doh! I didn’t know there were different types. Original was stock style plug and the new one is HEI (high energy ignition). So had to order new spark plug wires.

New spark plug wires; the set is really nice and has spark plug number on each wire which is handy. Only had to cut the ignition coil wire to length and attach the correct connector. Really like the new colour suits the engine.
I rotated the distributor so the number one spark plug position was at the rear. This lines up better with the spark plug wires lengths.

Final setup was quite simple, set the Holley Sniper to link to the Holley Dual Sync. Then set the timing to a static number. I chose 12 degrees as there is a marker on the balancer at that point. Initially, the timing was checked on the starter with the fuel pump disabled. After that was confirmed to be ok the fuel pump was enabled and the engine started. It started right away.

Next stage was to set the static timing with the engine running and verify the timing position on the balancer. After that, the engine had to be revved up to verify that the timing stays in place at higher RPM. The engine would retard a little with higher RPM. So had to increase the inductive delay in the settings to compensate. With a few iterations got the inductive delay just right and it stayed on the 12 degrees static timing at any RPM.

It’s so much smoother now the new distributor. I’m looking forward to some better weather so I can go out for a drive.

Audio Samples

Took an audio recording before and after the distributor install, click below to hear the difference. Each recording starts with exhaust flaps closed, then open.

Thanks Will get everything sorted in time. Next big thing will be the brakes. Going to be changing the front to disc + servo assistance. Will be nice to have predictable braking.
While its so cold outside made a small start on the audio upgrades.

The car came with single din Kenwood head unit. It didn’t really suit the car. I really wanted to change back to a classic style radio. The problem was that when the single din head unit was installed the original mounting holes were cut out. The optimal solution would have been to replace the console with a new unit. This wasn’t really feasible and was not able to find second-hand one at the time.

So the solution was to get a radio bezel for a non-console car then ‘shape’ the console to fit. To do this the console was removed and cut to fit under the new bezel. The new head unit is a Custom Autosound USA-630. It looks vintage but has connections for USB/iPod, remote wire for amps etc.

The time came to upgrade the brakes. Had enough of being on edge while driving anticipating when less cautious drivers plan to pull out in front or cut me up :/

Started by removing the old master cylinder. All of the pipe fittings were so tight it was near impossible to remove without damaging the fittings. The old master cylinder was leaky, so had to clean up the firewall to remove light surface rust and greasy mess.

In order to fit the brake servo had to drill out a few of the existing mounting threads and increase the size of the centre hole to allow the servo to pass through.

The brake pedal was challenging to install. Had to lay upside down under the dash, could have done with extra joints in my arms to get in there. The pedal needed to be modified so it would not foul on the top of the pedal box. Ground a little of the top edge of the pedal. Would have been nice if I’d have spotted that before it was installed for the first time :/

One of the bolts on the back of the booster was a bit long, had to cut it. The boosters valve rod had to be shortened so the brake light would only stay on when the pedal is pressed. I guess these parts are generic and so need to modification to particular cars.

With a new proportioning valve the brake lines need to be adapted to fit. Both front lines were extended, and the rear line needed a larger fitting. The kit came with steel pipes to connect the master cylinder to the proportioning valve. Unfortunately, they did not fit well and would not seal. So had to remake those lines so they would fit and seal.

The fluid warning sensor connector was soldered on to the loom replacing the original connector (which was not compatible with the original distribution block – useful right)

The master cylinder was bench bled and everything fitted.

Next up was installing the brake discs. The drums came off really easily, 4 nuts on the back and the main wheel nut. Had trouble unbolting the brake pipes that connect to the drums, so just cut them. Was able to remove the pipes by clamping a brake line spanner with a mole wrench. Then using a socket with an impact wrench on the other side. After a fair bit of time, they come loose.

The Wilwood kit was fantastic, everything fit together really well. The rotors, hubs, nuts etc all need to be assembled. The brake lines to the callipers were spaced with a bit rubber hose and a zip tie. This will prevent damage when turning the wheels.

All done, what a transformation. So much more control on the brakes, a massive amount of brake force. The car feels so much better to drive.

When I bought the car it came with an export brace. It was not fitted to the car. The issue was that the front struts were too close together by about 10mm. I guess that's why it wasn't fitted.
By lifting the car at different points + lots of levering I was able to get it to fit!

Its a huge improvement to the feel of the car. When going around a corner it feels far more stable. Much less wobbly

It really has transformed the feel of the car. Far more confidence driving it. Before the changes, I was always a bit on edge driving it. Never being quite sure I'd be able to stop quick enough is not fun. Also not knowing if it was going to dive left or right while slowing. Not great for the nerves.